Those who have been patiently waiting for the official release of the zombie survival game "DayZ" for years might just finally see the light in 2018.

In the latest status report by developer Bohemia Interactive, it seems that the game would finally end its Early Access version and would even be ported to consoles such as Xbox One. Still, the news may be not accepted well by some players, as some initially thought that the game would be officially released this year.

Apparently, 2018 is "shaping up to be one of the most important years for DayZ." And according to the developers, they knew that if they released the game this year, it would not represent a "full DayZ experience, and therefore blocks the 0.63 Experimental release."

"Let's just state the obvious: the PC BETA is not coming before the end of 2017. We tried to get it done sooner, but it's going to be 2018 folks," said Lead Producer Eugen Harton.

"Both the BETA update and any further 0.63 updates, up to 1.0, will happen in 2018, which is shaping up to be one of the most important years for DayZ. That is as much as we are sure of yet. I'll be honest, it has been a long wait already – even for us – but that's all we got now."

Some fans of the game might still be skeptical, as the developers already promised a beta version of the game back in 2015. They did not make good on that promise though, but this time, the developers are confidently serious about the release date, and they have already taken all their previously scheduling mistakes into account.

Still, the developers want players to know that they will only first release the beta version of the game next year, and that players should not expect that it is the final version of the game. There may be some few tweaks left until the game's official release in both PC and consoles, something fans should look forward to.

Aside from the date announcement, the status report also provided details on what to expect in the beta version of the game, as well as some gameplay features players should not count on continuing. Extensive details are given about infected zombies, player characters, animals, and more.

DayZ has been in Early Access on Steam since 2013.